WBB at LOLUVA Jan 29 at 6 PM

"When the announcers call it a Rugby Match...you know it's rough."
Lt. Peterson after the first LOLUVA game.

The Ladies play at UVA today at 6 PM. The game is on the ACC Network. The Hokies hosted LOLUVA on Jan 5 in a game the Hokies won 74-66 without Kitley in a very physical game.

LOLUVA was called for 23 fouls, the Hokies for 16. Camryn Taylor fouled out, McLean and Clarkson finished the game with 4 fouls. A game that many expected to be an easy win was close the whole way. At the time of that game the Hokies were ranked #9 and 12-2 on the season. UVA was 13-1 and unranked. We are currently 16-4 and 6-4 in conference; Virginia is 14-7 and 3-7 in conference.

LOLUVA's tallest player is 6'2" but they have some big players, who play a very physical style. With the ACC refs tendency to favor the style of the home team, the Hokies are going to need Soule and Owusu to play strong. Kitley is going to have to show some physicality in this game if she wants to be a factor on offense.

Virginia is not a particulary good three-point shooting team only averaging 29% from three; but Sam(kick 'em in the knee) Brunelle is shooting 40% on 84 attempts. Taylor averages 3.4 fouls in only 23 minutes per game; McLean averages 2.9 fouls also in 23 minutes per game. So foul trouble for their starters may be a factor. Clarkson, the other 6'2" player also averages 2.9 fouls in only 17 minutes per game.
Taylor, McLean and Brunelle score in double digits, the rest of the team is scattered from 3.4 to 8.0 with most of them at 6 or less.

The Hokies are the better team in this match up and should prevail. It will be interesting to watch how Kitley plays coming off a very physical game where she really got beat up and playing another physical team. It would be good to see some fire and some aggression from her. In the previous game, and several recent games, Taylor Soule has been a dynamo. The Hokies are going to need that energy today.

In the previous game, the Hokies were 2 for 11 from three in the first half and 6 for 14 in the second. More consistent three point shooting overall would have made the first game more comfortable.
The good news is that if LOLUVA fans display their typical enthusiastic support for their team, we might have more support in JPJ than they do.

LET'S GO HOKIES!